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Atlanta high school students are meeting yet again with counterparts from Nuremberg this week, only this time they’ll share their lives and experiences an ocean apart, through the medium of Zoom.
Since 2014, the city of Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson High School has been linked up in an annual exchange program with Sigmund-Schukert-Gymnasium, located in its German sister city.
Each year, the schools host mutual visits and homestays, focusing their academic program on jointly investigating an issue (like capital punishment in one year) through the lens of civil and human rights. This is a nod to the underpinning of the cities’ partnership, which was founded in the 1990s to link Nuremberg’s emergence from a dark past as a champion of human rights with Atlanta’s role in the civil rights movement.
But that was before the pandemic all but halted transatlantic travel, leaving many cross-cultural education programs scrambling to figure out their next steps. An Atlanta-Germany exchange of vocational apprentices also went digital, while an internship program that normally sends Americans to work at companies in Germany instead targeted their subsidiaries in the Southeast.
The Jackson-Sigmund exchange was no different, and organizers on both sides joined together to create a virtual edition that starts July 26.
This year, 14 students from Germany and 13 from Atlanta will spend 90 minutes together virtually each day, Monday through Thursday, making presentations that give those on the other side of the screen a glimpse at life as a young person amid a pandemic.
“With a lot of commitment, the pupils have developed videos and presentations to present the current reality of the young people’s lives, special cultural and historical features and differences and similarities for their partners. In this way, they are making a considerable contribution to the active partnership between the ‘City of Human Rights’ and the ‘City of Civil Rights,’” said Christina Plewinski,
The schedule starts with welcoming comments Monday from Cornelia Trinkl, Nuremberg’s deputy mayor for education and sport, and City of Atlanta International Affairs Director Vanessa Ibarra. Then a video “day in the life” presentation by German students will prompt lay the groundwork for a breakout session in which students can get to know each other.
Later in the week, Atlanta students will take part in a crash German course, learn about the history of Nuremberg, gain an introduction to the Bavarian school system and offer a presentation to their counterparts about life, culture and leisure activities in Atlanta. On the final day, Thursday, organizers are hoping to confirm a presentation by Julian Gressel, former Atlanta United soccer player, who would present on what it’s like being a footballer from Franconia (the region in Bavaria where Nuremberg sits) in the Southeast U.S.
Berlin-based cross-cultural expert Anna Kauert is helping facilitate the program, along with the city of Nuremberg’s international affairs office. The events and discussions are being held in English.
See the full schedule here.
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